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Avakov's exit and a region under pressure
Summary
A look back at 14 July 2021, a day after Ukraine's long-serving interior minister stepped down, as neighbours dealt with migration and vaccines.
What did the region look like on 14 July 2021? In Ukraine, the main political story was the departure of Arsen Avakov, the interior minister, who resigned on 13 July 2021. He had held the post since 2014.
The resignation ended a tenure of about seven years at the head of the interior ministry, a span that covered the whole period from 2014 to the middle of 2021.
Pressure on the northern border
Beyond Ukraine, Lithuania was dealing with a surge in undocumented migrants crossing from Belarus. On 9 July 2021 it began building a fence along the border, at a cost of $48 million. A week earlier, Lithuania had declared a state of emergency. It accused Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of deliberately trying to destabilise the country by encouraging and allowing migrants, mostly Syrians, to cross illegally.
Vaccines for Moldova
To the south-west, Moldova received help on a different front. On 10 July 2021, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki announced that the United States had donated 500,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine to the country. Moldovan President Maia Sandu praised the United States for the deployment.
Taken together, the days around 14 July 2021 showed a Ukrainian government facing a change at the interior ministry while neighbours handled border security and the pandemic.
